This is getting ridiculous. In the last week, I have attempted to play SW: TOR about 6 times. All but one of those times, the servers were shut down for maintenance. I was ok with it at first, it happens. Now I'm getting annoyed. If they don't knock it off, I can guarantee that this will be my last month of subscription. Yes I'm sure they won't miss my $15 that much, but I'm a hardcore Star Wars nerd, if they're losing me, there's got to be other people leaving too. I can't tell if I'm being unreasonable or not but this is just getting stupid.

On the flipside, I did start Max Payne 3 today. Wow. It's like "Leaving Las Vegas: The Game." I was a huge fan of Max Payne, and the sequel (to a lesser extent), and I am so glad that the threequel is turning out to be so good. ****SPOILER ALERT:.........when they queued in to the flashback and it showed Max in his classic black leather jacket, I totally got goosebumps.****

Apart from the Maxy Payne fanboy-ishness, this game is a fantastic action game that succeeds at what Stranglehold attempted. The biggest difference for me is probably the storytelling. Stranglehold was really enjoyable for the combat, every fight really felt like it was directed by John Woo. The environments were satisfyingly destructable, there were plenty of options for taking down the numerous enemies, and sliding down surfaces never got old. However, when it came to the plot and "quests" it just lacked. Yes Chow Yun-Fat did the voiceover and yes it was written by John Woo, and I'm sure if it was a movie it would have been great. But I digress. Max Payne succeeds on every level, up to and including story. I totally buy into Max's motivation in every scene. Forgive a second digression, but in Uncharted 3, my roommate and I couldn't figure out why these mindless thugs kept attacking us when the very foundation they stood upon was quickly disappearing into nothingness.

*SPOILER ALERT (THPOILER ALERT)) In Max Payne, there is a moment where Max finds himself in an area with things going terribly bad all around him, and the enemies don't just sit there and shoot at him with reckless abandon. I won't go into specific detail, but we'll just say they act in a way that I find believable, or at the very least, buyable.

Max Payne 3 is a fantastic action game, and mechanic-wise is probably Rockstar's most solid outing. It is a must for any action gamer's collection.